Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £6.99 a month
Kwaidan
This stunningly beautiful anthology of Japanese ghost stories is one of the most meticulously crafted supernatural films ever made.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Overview
Masaki Kobayashi’s stunningly beautiful anthology of Japanese ghost stories is both a captivatingly creepy horror film and an elegant treatise on death and loss to rank alongside Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari. Comprising four nightmarish tales adapted from Lafcadio Hearn’s classic ghost stories, each of which has its own visual style, Kwaidan features some of the most breathtaking imagery in Japanese cinema, lavishly photographed from a series of immaculately handpainted sets.
Originally released in Britain in an 163-minute version, Kwaidan was recently restored to its full 183-minute glory, and the result remains a timeless classic that both chills the bones and enraptures the senses.
Contains moderate violenceRelated
The KLF: 23 Seconds to Eternity The KLF: 23 Seconds to Eternity
Anthology 2023 121 mins Director: Bill Butt
Journey through the collected films of The KLF, one of the most successful, enigmatic and outrageous electronic bands of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
I Am Weekender I Am Weekender
Anthology 2023 72 mins Director: Wiz and Chloé Raunet
Groundbreaking 1992 music film Weekender, coupled with Chloé Raunet’s documentary about the making of the film and its enduring impact, offering a unique insight into the heart of acid house.
Rabid Rabid
Horror 1976 91 mins Director: David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg’s classic outbreak horror introduces us to a young woman (Marilyn Chambers) who hungers for human blood after an experimental plastic surgery goes wrong.
Nosferatu Nosferatu
Horror 1922 89 mins Silent Director: F.W. Murnau
This influential Dracula adaptation contains some of the most famous images of expressionist film, and remains shocking and stylish after 100 years.
The Blood on Satan's Claw The Blood on Satan's Claw
Horror 1971 96 mins Director: Piers Haggard
Depraved sexual practices and satanic violence envelop a remote country village in this exciting period horror.
Pontypool Pontypool
Horror 2008 93 mins Director: Bruce McDonald
Don't say it! The wrong word starts turning people into zombies in this lo-fi Canadian horror.
A Dark Song A Dark Song
Drama 2016 100 mins Director: Liam Gavin
Steve Oram and Catherine Walker excel in this occult chamber piece about a grieving mother attempting to contact her deceased child.
Dead of Night (aka Deathdream) Dead of Night (aka Deathdream)
Drama 1978 88 mins Director: Bob Clark
A soldier killed in the Vietnam War returns home on the night of his death in Bob Clark’s deft blend of searing political allegory and wicked grindhouse thrills.
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Comedy 2023 163 mins Director: Radu Jude
Radu Jude’s follow-up to the Golden Bear-winning Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn is a pin-sharp, caustically funny critique of workplace culture and oppression.
Everybody in Our Family Everybody in Our Family
Drama 2012 103 mins Director: Radu Jude
Radu Jude delivers on the promise of his first feature, The Happiest Girl in the World, with this superb black comedy.
Night Tide Night Tide
Fantasy 1961 85 mins Director: Curtis Harrington
A young Dennis Hopper is on shore leave from the Navy when he falls for a mysterious woman who performs as a mermaid, in this intoxicating cult classic from underground filmmaker Curtis Harrington.
Apostasy Apostasy
Drama 2018 95 mins Director: Dan Kokotajlo
A deeply religious family must decide whether to stick by their relation or abandon her, in this striking debut from Daniel Kokotajlo - a prizewinner at BFI London Film Festival 2017.
Akenfield Akenfield
Drama 1975 98 mins Director: Peter Hall
Peter Hall’s extraordinary, long-unseen work of sublime poetic realism traces three generations of one Suffolk family and their lives in the farming industry.
The White Reindeer The White Reindeer
Horror 1953 68 mins Director: Erik Blomberg
The wife of a reindeer herder acquires a potion to make her an irresistible object of desire, but at a terrible cost, in this extraordinary vampiric fairy-tale set amongst the starkly beautiful fells of Finnish Lapland.